


pretty girl

by thespacenico



Series: klancemas 2018 [9]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, allura would be the ultimate wingwoman honestly, anyway keith learns some things, but keith is also a sweetheart, he's so gay lol, i'm gonna have fun with that, it's a bit of an awkward conversation, keith and allura have a little talk, keith is so jealous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-19 18:02:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17006502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thespacenico/pseuds/thespacenico
Summary: klancemas day nine: song-inspiredadored by himby dodie





	pretty girl

**Author's Note:**

> i asked my pal for klance song suggestions and she suggested the one in the summary for keith to allura and i said PERFECT

The only reason Keith makes it through breakfast the next morning without doing something stupid is because of his orange juice.

Because Lance has been cracking stupid jokes all morning, and they’re so dumb but he always has this hopeful look on his face right after he delivers the punchline which is too cute for Keith not to at least smile at which makes Lance smile in satisfaction and then Keith can’t help but laugh even a tiny bit.

Keith is pouring himself a glass of orange juice at the table when Lance first comes down the stairs, his hair ruffled every which way (it’s cute, why does he _always_ look cute), yawning loudly as if to announce his presence. And then he comes over and sits down right next to him like it’s the most normal thing in the world and plops his cheek onto the table with an exhausted sigh. “Hey, man.”

And okay, maybe it is the most normal thing in the world, because they’re friends and friends sit next to each other all the time which is normal so why is Keith’s heart still fluttering all nervously in his chest like that.

Keith risks a glance at him as he sets the juice down and manages to keep it together. “You okay?”

“Jus’ tired,” Lance shrugs, yawning again. He sits up and slides the carton toward himself to inspect the label. “Is this—orange juice?”

“Uh.” Keith looks down at his glass. “Yes?”

Lance holds the carton up and points, looking affronted. “With _pulp?”_

Keith squints at him. “... Yes?”

Lance clasps his other hand to his chest. “Keith, I feel wounded. Betrayed.”

“It’s good,” Keith protests, feeling a little relieved at how easily they still seem to fall into conversation, even if it’s mostly Lance scorning Keith’s taste. Lance gasps and wrinkles his nose (cute cute _cute_ ) as Keith takes a sip. “Besides, just means there’s more for me.”

“It’s an abomination,” Lance insists, pushing the carton away. Keith just shrugs and takes another sip in response to the appalled look on Lance’s face. He drops his elbow onto the table and props his head in his hand. “Hey, why did the blonde stare at the carton of orange juice?”

Keith scoffs. “Blonde jokes aren’t funny anymore.”

“Just—” Lance waves a hand at him. “Say why.”

Keith makes a face, but Lance nods expectantly and he sighs. “Why.”

Lance grins. “Because it said concentrate.” And it’s not even _funny,_ but then Lance has to go and wiggle his eyebrows and make Keith snort. “Ha! See, they are funny.”

“Everything you say is funny.” Both Keith and Lance jump a little when Pidge suddenly appears, squeezing into the chair at Keith’s end of the table with a bowl and a box of cereal.

“I can’t tell if that’s an insult or not,” Lance mutters as she starts pouring herself a bowl. She shovels a spoonful of cereal into her mouth in response. “Okay, how about this one. What did the apple say to the orange?”

Keith steals the cereal box and pours a handful into his palm. “Apples don’t talk.”

Lance opens his mouth and then closes it. He sighs. “That was the joke, Keith.”

“Oh.” Keith bites back a laugh as Lance slides out of his seat to get a bowl for himself. “Sorry.”

“A for effort, F for delivery,” Pidge adds when he sits back down, which prompts Lance to launch into half a dozen more jokes to prove her wrong, and Keith goes through another glass and a half of orange juice to keep himself from laughing at all of them.

He was doing fine until Allura comes down the stairs and he automatically gets that ugly, twisting feeling in his stomach which is stupid because it’s not like it’s her fault that Keith is so far gone for Lance that he doesn’t know what to do with himself and even seeing them in the same room together when he knows there could be something there makes him—okay, jealous. Lance’s eyes light up when she walks into the kitchen, and Keith knows it’s not fair but his heart plummets in his chest because Lance almost looks relieved for some reason. “Hey, Allura!”

“Oh—good morning.” She gives them a small smile from across the counter, but Keith is too busy staring at his orange juice now to reciprocate. Pidge kicks him under the table. He inhales the rest of the juice in his glass and pours some more.

“Did you sleep okay last night?” Lance asks politely as Allura is pulling a granola bar out of the pantry (she’s had a weird fixation on the dark chocolate ones ever since Shiro gave her one the other day).

“Yes, very well, thank you.” She closes the pantry door and then heads back for the stairs.

Lance blinks and Pidge takes a very slow bite of cereal. “Oh—aren’t you gonna eat with us?”

“That’s alright, I’m just going to go get ready for the day,” she says, and then she shoots everyone another quick smile and disappears so quickly that even Keith finds himself staring after her.

All three of them are silent for a moment. “That was… weird,” Pidge says eventually. Keith glances sideways at Lance, who’s still looking toward the stairs, frowning slightly.

Lance chews on his lip. “I think she might be avoiding me for some reason.”

“What?” Pidge pours some more cereal into her leftover milk. “Why would she be avoiding you?”

Keith shifts uncomfortably. Everything feels too conflicting all of a sudden. On one hand, he can’t seem to push aside that weird, selfish feeling every time Lance and Allura are in the same room, but on the other hand, Lance looks upset and that makes Keith—upset. _God, you’re pathetic,_ he sighs inwardly. “Maybe she’s feeling homesick again?” he offers tentatively.

Lance shakes his head slowly. “I don’t think so. She always tells me when she’s homesick.”

 _Of course she does,_ Keith’s brain says, which is way too bitter and frankly, inappropriate for the current situation. He ignores the sort of funny look he gets from Pidge and returns his attention to his juice.

“When did she start acting like that?” she asks.

“I don’t know.” Lance stares down at his still-empty bowl. “I guess—maybe since the day we got out all those Christmas sweaters.”

Pidge is quiet for a minute, her eyes narrowed the way they are when she’s thinking. And then she clicks her tongue. “Oh.” She giggles. “Oh, okay. I see.”

Keith and Lance both stare at her. “What?”

She glances at Keith, then shrugs and takes another enormous bite of cereal. “Nothing.”

Keith feels the sudden need to go on the defensive for some reason, and he scowls. “What—” And then he cuts himself off and he feels his cheeks flush as Pidge chokes back another giggle. “Oh.”

“What?” Lance repeats, looking thoroughly confused.

The day that they got out all the Christmas sweaters was the day that Keith had his, uh, freakout. Pidge and Hunk told him that Allura already knew about his—feelings. And if it weren’t already obvious like everyone keeps so kindly reminding him, then he definitely made it clear when he left the room the second that Allura got there, so if she’s been avoiding Lance since then—

Pidge’s eyebrows shoot up and Lance looks startled when Keith stands a little abruptly, his chair scraping across the floor. “Uh, I’ll be right back.”

“What is happening,” Lance mutters, but that’s the last Keith hears before he excuses himself from the table and goes straight for the stairs.

He nervously clenches and unclenches his hands as he climbs up the steps and starts down the hallway for Allura’s room, and he doesn’t even give himself time to think about what he’s doing because he knows he’ll chicken out if he does. So he stops in front of her door and knocks before he can talk himself out of it.

“Come in!”

Keith takes a deep breath and pushes the door open, poking his head inside. Allura’s sitting on the edge of her bed, braiding her hair over her shoulder. She smiles when she sees him, which kind of throws him off because he sort of assumed that this was going to be really awkward. Maybe that’s just him. “Oh! Hello, Keith.”

“Uh—hey. Can I—” He clears his throat. “I need to talk to you.”

If she’s surprised, she doesn’t really show it. She just smiles again, and pats the space beside her in invitation. Keith shuts the door behind him and cautiously sits down beside her, folding his hands in his lap. “Is everything alright?” she asks, and the way she does is so kind and genuine that Keith kind of just wants to melt into the floor because he feels so bad for ever having any sort of grudge against her, even if he’s done pretty well in the past of pushing those feelings aside.

He shifts a little. “Actually, I was gonna ask you that.”

She pauses in her braiding. “Oh, yes. Sorry, I know I came and left a bit abruptly. I didn’t mean to worry anyone.” She resumes in crossing the thick strands of hair in her hands over one another, tilting her head to look at him. “Anyway, I’m alright.”

Keith moves his hands to his knees and drums his fingers. “Okay, I just—wanted to make sure.”

There’s a brief moment of quiet that feels like ten years to Keith. Allura’s hands slow a little, but she keeps braiding. “Keith,” she starts, a bit of amusement in her voice. “What is this about?”

He winces a little. “Um. Well, I—” She waits patiently as he tries desperately to work up his nerve, but the look on her face makes him think she probably knows exactly what he’s trying to bring up. _Just get it over with,_ says his brain. He sighs. “Look, I know you know.”

The corners of Allura’s mouth turn up and Keith tries desperately to keep his cheeks from turning red. “So it is about Lance.”

Keith clears his throat again and stares pointedly down at the floor. “I just, wanted to tell you I don’t want you to feel like you can’t hang out with Lance when I’m around just because—uh, you know. That’s not fair to either of you.”

And then Allura starts laughing softly. Keith looks up in bewilderment as she’s finishing her braid, smiling as she ties it off at the end. “I’m just glad you finally came to talk to me.”

As if this entire conversation wasn’t already embarrassing enough. “What?”

Allura turns a little more to face him, still smiling. “I suppose I should have just told you myself. I didn’t mean to seem like I was avoiding the two of you. It just seems like you’re much more relaxed when I’m not there.”

“Wh—but—” Keith shakes his head. “That’s my point. Allura, I can handle it. I don’t want to get in the middle of anything.”

“Well, you like him, don’t you?”

Keith can’t stop his cheeks from flushing this time. _What is happening._ “I—well—”

He must look as confused as he feels, because a look of realization crosses her face. “Oh, I see where the confusion is.”

“Confusion,” Keith echoes.

She laughs a little again as she puts a hand on his knee. “It’s true that Lance may have pursued me for a while, but we’ve both long since moved past that. Lance and I are simply very close friends.”

Keith blinks at her. “But—the other day, you guys were talking in the movie room and—” And then he realizes how freaking creepy that sounds so he makes himself shut up, but Allura has already caught on and she blinks back at him.

“I thought you said you couldn’t find us.”

This is literally the most humiliating conversation of his life. He awkwardly glances back down at the floor. “I didn’t wanna interrupt or anything,” he mumbles.

“We were actually talking about you.”

Keith’s head snaps up so fast he nearly gets whiplash. Allura just keeps smiling. “Me? You guys were—wait, what?” And then realization hits and the tiniest hopeful thought enters his mind, but it seems so—impossible, but he can’t quite think of any other explanation and he can’t tell if the weird feeling growing in his chest is more like excitement or panic. “Wait—”

“Keith,” Allura says calmly, an amused look on her face as she places a hand on his knee and his mouth snaps shut.

“Sorry,” he squeaks.

She studies him for a short moment, her lips quirked up and her head tilted again thoughtfully. “This is all very new for you, isn’t it?”

Jeez, this is not the talk that Keith was expecting to have today, and from Allura no less. He rubs the back of his neck. “I mean—” he lets out a long breath. “Yeah, kind of.”

“Well, perhaps now that we’re on the same page everything will be a bit easier for you to handle.”

Keith laughs awkwardly. “Uh, yeah. I guess. Sorry, I know I’ve been really weird the past couple of days, I just didn’t want you to think—”

“No need to apologize to me,” she shakes her head. “I understand.”

He jumps a little when his handheld buzzes in his pocket, and Allura watches as he fishes it out and glances down.

 

 **lancey lance:** are u with allura? is she ok?

 

His cheeks flush again (they’ve been doing that a lot recently) as he glances up at Allura, who just smiles knowingly and waves a hand as if assuring him he should respond.

 

 **Keith K:** yeah, she’s okay don’t worry

 **lancey lance:** okay that’s good  
pidge and i wanna watch a movie are u in?

 

Allura peeks over his shoulder. “What did he say?”

“Uh—” Keith bites his lip. This is such a weird turn of events. “He and Pidge are watching a movie.”

“Well, what are you waiting for?”

He huffs a laugh and stands from the bed. “Yeah, I’m going.” He pauses halfway through the door and looks back. “Um—thanks, Allura.”

She nods. “Of course. Good luck, Keith.”

He smiles back at her and then closes the door behind him.

  
  
**Keith K:** coming

**Author's Note:**

> hey... how are you guys doing. how you holdin up. i'm so sorry vld did this to us we were done so dirty please come vent to me on tumblr if you need to lol
> 
> come say hi on [tumblr](https://www.taxashi.tumblr.com)!  
> 


End file.
